THE GARBAGE CAN PROJECT

The Garbage Can Project was a web-based project that was live from December 2005 through March 2008. The idea for this piece originated from the frequent theft of the city-issued garbage cans in front of my apartment building, often multiple times each month. After numerous calls to the City of Chicago for replacements, I created a website to try and solve the mystery of who stole my garbage cans and why.

I posted daily photographs of my garbage cans to track when they were stolen and replaced, and video footage from a 24-hour surveillance camera hidden in a houseplant on the 1st-floor windowsill, edited to show every instance that someone interacted with the garbage cans. This footage opened my eyes to a world of fascinating interactions occurring right beneath my nose.

The surveillance cameras not only captured the expected use of garbage cans—residents taking out trash, local dog walkers, passersby throwing away their soda bottles—but also such unexpected episodes as a hat left on one of the garbage cans that several passing strangers tried on and rejected; an abandoned, half-full cup of coffee that was later picked up and consumed by a well-dressed businessman; and a stranger who stopped and made a photograph through our living room window.

The project concluded in 2008 when I moved to a new apartment. In 2010, The Garbage Can Project was featured as a physical installation at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art as part of the exhibition, artists tell stories (mostly about themselves).